Seeing is Believing
by The Threat
Summary: U.S.A. and Japan aren't the only countries in the world where people wake up one day, discovering extraordinary abilities...
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: "Heroes" and related characters are created by Tim Kring. However, this story will center around characters that are my creation.

Note: To avoid any confusion, this story takes place several months before the events of the first episode, but this is in no way a prequel to the series.

* * *

**How an organism evolved into what it is today depended on the environment it had to survive in. When it has to survive in a cold climate, it would grow hair. If it has to survive in an environment engulfed with predators, it will find ways to protect itself against it. But sometimes, it would also evolve differently, something unexpected, depending on either the organism's desires or emotions. Or how else could you explain that a non-flying animal like the velociraptor evolved into what we know today as birds.**

Brussels, Belgium: Campus for Science and Art

In a TV-studio, which was clearly set up for a news bulletin, we find a group of students, along with their professor. They were setting up the lights, the camera, the microphones, and everything else that is linked with filming. The professor, however, looked at the TV-screen and wasn't at all satisfied with what he saw: "Is this the frame in which you are going to shoot this?"

"I don't know!" the cameraman answered, "I just put the camera here!"

"Where's the director?" the lightsman asked, "Where are you!"

He didn't see him, and clearly neither did any of the other students. The lightsman sighed, and turned around. He screamed as he did so. All the other students had turned to look at him. It turned out the director stood right behind the lightsman, and he screamed because he didn't expect to see him when he turned around.

"How did you do that?!" he asked the director, not fully recovered from the shock, "How did you make yourself disappear and re-appear like that?"

"I didn't disappear!" the director replied, "If you would be adjusting the light as you're supposed to, you'd have spotted me before you asked 'Where's the director'!"

The director, even though he's only a student like everyone else in this room, apart from their professor, wasn't at all happy. He looked at the screen, noticing that the studio looked dark on it. In other words, they still haven't changed much about the lighting.

"Didn't I tell you to shine more light on the actors?" the director said.

"No, you haven't said much!" the lightsman replied.

The director had about enough of this, and mumbled to himself: "How long are you people gonna keep acting as if I ain't here."

"What?" the lightsman asked.

"Oh! So now you do hear me!" the director bit back.

"Hey you!" the professor called to him, and pointed to the screen "You want to work with this frame?"

The director moved himself to the screen, studied it for a moment, then said to the cameraman: "Maybe you should move the camera more to the right."


	2. Chapter 2

The next school day, which was after the weekend that followed these events, that student director is inside a castle. This castle, which is in fact the school building, was at the time filled with fellow film students. Funny to note is that neither even knew each other prior to entering this campus, and yet they had developed a good friendship with each other from day one. All except for one. That one felt that he can stand right next to them, bare naked, and they still wouldn't even look at him once. That incident last week, in which the other students thought he wasn't there when they needed him, had only fed to his rage against his fellow students.

"Hey Olivier!" a girl suddenly called at him.

He turned to look at the girl. When he did, he reminded himself just how pretty she is. From the very beginning of the term, he had developed a crush on her, but since she started to ignore him just like anyone else, that crush started to fade away. Still he couldn't help shaking a little as she called him. He walked to her, and answered her call.

"Yes?" he said, trying to sound casual.

"You know anything about computers?" she asked him.

He should've known. She was working on her laptop when she called him, so obviously she wouldn't want to just have a little chat with him.

"Depends." he answered.

"Do you know what this is?" she asked him, showing him the screen of her laptop.

He looked at it. There were white, black, and many different shades of gray dots on her screen, which was indeed weird given the colorful desktop, which had the girl's name written on it: Aline.

"No." he answered, "What did you do that caused this?"

"I don't know!" the girl, or Aline, replied, "I was just looking at some pictures, then suddenly this happened!"

Then I have no idea either, he thought to himself. It was then that he spotted a sticker underneath the laptop's keyboard. It read: 'Trouble? Dial this free number!' followed with a number that was clearly not local.

"Try calling that number!" he advised her, pointing to the sticker, "Maybe they know what's wrong!"

Aline looked at the number, then looked back at him and said: "I don't think I have enough credit on my cellular."

Olivier looked up surprised, and said: "What do you mean? It's a free number!"

She looked back at the sticker, then sounded more happy: "Oh! That's what it says! Sorry, English is just a rockdifficult language."

Olivier twitched at the sound of that word: 'rockdifficult'. It's like that with everybody in this campus. They find something really cool, it's 'rockcool'. They find something very disgusting, it's 'rockdisgusting'. It's all rock to everybody here. Even 'The Flintstones' don't talk like that.

Aline, meanwhile, has been looking for her cellular in her purse, but couldn't find it: "Oh no! I forgot my phone! Oh, 'stupid ass fuck'!"

Even though the two were conversing in Dutch, she said those last three words in English. What was that she just said, Olivier thought to himself, does she even know what she just said? Since she claims to not know any English he figured she didn't.

"Want me to call them for you?" he suggested to her.

"I'll be eternally grateful if you did!" she replied.

Olivier took his own phone out of his pocket, clicked it open, and dialed the number on the sticker. It took a while before the phone would go through. During that time he wondered what the hell he's doing. He never really did like to call somebody when there are other people around, afraid that he would say something stupid and make a complete fool out of himself. Then again, isn't he already doing so just by doing this for her, knowing that she will continue ignoring him afterwards?

The call went through at last. All he needed to do then was wait for someone to pick up. He looked at Aline. She didn't look back at him, so he concluded she wasn't paying attention to him. What the hell is the matter with these people, he thought to himself.

"Wushiwushi!" he heard someone say over his phone, along with some other words.

Somebody had finally picked up, but 'wushiwushi' was the only word Olivier actually understood. Last thing he expected was that he'd be calling Japan for free. With the few words in Japanese he knows, he replied: "Er... Eigo... er...?"

"Oh! You speak Engrish!" the voice said, with a heavy Japanese accent Olivier only barely understood, "Hi, Nakamura Hiro speaking!"

Olivier couldn't quite make out the name. Not that it mattered since he'd have probably forgotten it by the time this conversation ended anyway. In any event, he spoke: "Hello. There's someone here who has a problem with a computer from your company."

"Probrem?" it was hard to say whether this guy was surprised or enthusiastic about it, "What probrem!"

"Well..." Olivier was about to answer, until he noticed Aline talking to some other girl, but he wasn't sure whether he understood what they were talking about.

"I'm sorry!" Olivier apologized to the Japanese guy, "Can you wait for one minute!"

"Of course I can!" the guy sounded like he wouldn't want it any other way.

This made Olivier a little suspicious: "This is a free line, right!"

"Of course!" the guy replied, "You can say eberything you want!"

Olivier wasn't sure what to make out of this. He didn't care either. He listened to the two girls.

"Some friend he is! Walking off like that!"

"Why did he even say he will call them, but not stay here as he's doing so!"

This, Olivier didn't understand at all. They seemed to be talking as if he wasn't here anymore. He waved his hand before the girls' very eyes, but they didn't respond to it. Unless you count what one other one said as a response: "Do you feel a drought too?"

This is getting ridiculous, he thought to himself. Did these people make a bet at some point in their lives to see how far they can drive him nuts by pretending he isn't there? Angry as this made him, he turned away from the girls. Then he spotted something weird, right in front of him. Something that didn't make any sense, couldn't make any sense. Then he remembered he was still on the phone with Japan, so he brought his phone back to his ear.

"Never mind! Problem resolved!" he said.

"Are you sure?" the guy asked.

"Hai!" Olivier replied, with the Japanese word for 'yes' just to be sure this guy understood him. He closed his phone, then started to look around.

He saw a whole lot of people in this hall, everyone either playing cards, using their laptops, discussing assignments, some of them sitting at a table, or on the floor. Then he looked back in front of him. There was a mirror, which reflected everything and everyone he had spotted in the hall. It reflects everything it should be reflecting from the angle that Olivier was looking at. The only thing that wasn't reflected was he, himself. He waved at the mirror, but he didn't see himself wave back. He stepped closer to it, but he still wasn't there. He pressed his hand against the mirror, but it still wouldn't show the hand that makes the print on it. Olivier could see his own hand, but for some reason the mirror didn't, and neither did anyone else in the hall. Did he just turn invisible? If so, then why could he still see his own hand? Is he a ghost then? Only one way to find that out! He slammed his fist against the wall next to the mirror. He expected that if he were a ghost, his fist would go through the wall. After conducting this little experiment, he wished he were a ghost so that his hand did go through the wall and he wouldn't feel any pain afterwards. He rubbed his hand in order to try and ease the pain.

"There you are!" Aline called to him.

He turned to look at her. She can see him? He looked back in the mirror, and this time it did reflect him. He turned back to her to reply: "Yeah, er... I got a bad reception in here, so I went outside. It only got worse, so I just hung up."

"Oh!" she didn't sound disappointed anymore, "Oh well, thank you for trying anyway."

"That's all right." he replied, "You wanted me to help, so I did!"

Suddenly, she noticed him rubbing his hand: "What happened to you?"

Olivier didn't have an excuse ready for that one, so he improvised: "Er... I was a little careless when I got back in, that's all! Nothing serious."

"Oh, ok!" she said, after which she turned around and walked away.

For once he had a conversation with her, but that wasn't what caught his mind's attention. What just happened to him? How and why did he just turn invisible?


	3. Chapter 3

Zaventem Airport:

Two American tourists, along with a whole lot of others, arrived. One was quite a big guy, in length as well as in width, the other was his younger, smaller, and compared to him a bit skinnier sister. They had only just exited their gate, when the guy started to speak.

"Finally, I always wanted to see Belgium!"

"Really?" the girl sounded sarcastic, "I had no idea. You only told me once or twice every minute we sat on the plane!"

"No I didn't!" the guy contradicted her, but after he thought for a minute or so: "OK, maybe that one time."

She didn't listen to him. Her brother was never the cleverest person she had ever known, so she decided to leave it at that.

Though they were only carrying one backpack and one trunk each, it was quite a heavy load. The girl decided that they may need some help getting them carried. So she spoke to the first person she met.

"Excuse me! Could you help us with..." but that person was gone before she could even finish her sentence.

Then she spotted a Middle-Eastern guy, to whom she asked the same thing: "Excuse me! Could you help us carry all this?"

The guy replied to her, though he seemed to spout a lot of insane babble in his own language, which the girl nor her brother could make out.

While he kept talking, the girl turned to her brother: "They're not really helpful here."

"Looks like you have to carry it all on your own, sis." he replied.

"All?! What about your trunk?" she shouted at him.

Her brother couldn't answer. The Middle-Eastern guy had kept talking, and seemed insulted by the fact that the girl turned to talk to her brother. In order to get her attention again he grabbed hold of her arm. The girl, of course, didn't take that lightly.

"Get your hands off me!" she screamed at him, as she pushed him away.

The girl appeared to have not known her own strength, for she pushed the guy so hard he practically flew away from her, and crashed into somebody else's luggage. The guy looked pissed as he got up, and yelled for help. A security officer arrived at the scene, and the Middle-Eastern guy immediately began explaining things to him.

"Welcome to Belgium!" the brother remarked.


	4. Chapter 4

Outskirts of Brussels

The minute Olivier had returned to his studio apartment, he switched on his computer. When he started surfing the net, he typed and typed 'invisibility' in it's search engine. Immediately he found an entire page devoted to the subject:

"Invisibility is the state of an object which cannot be seen. An object in this state is said to be invisible (literally, "not visible"). The term is usually used as a fantasy/science fiction term, where objects are literally made unseeable by magical or technological means. However, its effects can also be seen in the real world, particularly in physics."

It went on like that for a while. Olivier wasn't particulary surprised. He scrolled down to look for anything usefull.

"Invisibility by environment

An object may be classified as "invisible" if it cannot be seen due to environmental factors other than the fact that it doesn't reflect light. An object that might normally be seeable may be classified as invisible if it is:

-Behind an object.

-The same colour or pattern as the background. (Camouflage)

-Patterned so that its outline is hard to determine.

-In an environment which is too dark or too bright.

-Not in a particular observer's line-of-sight. (Especially when driving)

-Transparent. (air and many other gases)"

Still not an answer to his questions. So he scrolled down a little further. Under the title 'Invisibility in physics', he thought he had found it: "A recent breakthrough (2006) at Imperial College London has shown that invisibility is possible by using specifically patterned crystals made up of nanoscale boxes that hold electrons. When light hits these crystals, it becomes entangled within the boxes, causing the object to become transparent."

But it turned out that Olivier was mistaking. Scrolling down a little more, he found examples in fiction, such as the movies "Predator" and "Hollow Man", "The Invisible Man" by H.G. Wells, comics like 'Fantastic Four' and ' 9th Wonders', the latter of which Olivier had never heard of. Underneath that list was also the title of a book, "Activating Evolution" by a Chandra Suresh, which among other things mentions the idea of a man being able to turn invisible. Olivier wrote down the title and the name of the author, hoping to find that book one day. After this, he scrolled down a little further, but found nothing at all usefull.

Olivier looked through his little DVD collection afterwards. He knew he has some movies in which people became invisible, and also has one TV-episode in which the same thing happened. After a long search, he had found the TV-episode: 'Show and Tell' from 'Stargate SG-1'. He didn't hesitate for one moment and put the disc in his DVD-player. He skipped the first few scenes until he found this conversation between two characters:

Gen. Hammond: "Captain, you're our physics expert here. Is it possible there's a creature standing here we can't percieve?"

Capt. Carter: "Theoretically it is possible, sir, yes. I mean according to quantum physics, matter exists both in particles and waves. If the Reetou waves are exactly 180 degrees out of phase with ours, right down to the sub-atomic level, then their light and sound waves would be undetectable by us."

Despite the detailed information this conversation gave away, Olivier was still a little confused. He didn't recall to have brought his "waves" out of phase, if he got it right. No matter, he thought, because he was sure that somehow this ability could come in handy one day. He looked into his closet's mirror. He concentrated himself on getting invisible. Think invisiblity, he thought to himself, think invisible! He concentrated so hard, he kept his eyes closed for thirty seconds. When he opened them, he could still see himself in the mirror. He failed, but wasn't bound to give up just yet.

* * *

Note: apart from mentionning "9th Wonders" and "Activating Evolution" the suggested text to have been found on Wikipedia can really be found on Wikipedia. Same goes for the dialogue said to be from "Stargate SG-1" 


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning, the American tourists have made it somewhere in the less crowded streets in the South of Brussels. Neither were in a good mood just then. Even though a night had passed since the incident back at the airport, neither one seemed to be able to forget about it.

"I mean, really, I don't care if you don't know your own strength, you really shouldn't have pushed that guy!" the brother lectured her.

"Says you, who always wanted to wrestle with me!" the girl replied.

"That's something completely different!" he bit back.

"In what way?" she asked him.

He needed to think it over, but eventually snapped out of it: "Shut up! Just shut up!"

The girl shook her head. She knew she couldn't talk about such matters with her brother. He was always right about anything, and he couldn't do anything wrong himself. And by shouting like that out in the open, he didn't even seem to realize what he was doing just then either. It soon enough became clear to the girl why these streets were deserted: they had entered a rough neighborhood! People who were inside their houses suddenly came outside, armed with long sticks, which closely resembled baseball bats, and some chains. The day before they had an encounter with a man of the Middle-East, and this time they were surrounded by an entire group of them, along with North-Africans. One of them spoke, but neither the girl or her brother could make out what they were saying. It hardly even sounded like any recognizable language.

Meanwhile, Olivier was on his way to the campus. He hadn't been able to become invisible at will the other day, so obviously he felt utterly disappointed. If only he'd know someone who could help him. The idea crossed his mind, but he reminded himself that it's practically impossible to find someone to whom he can tell. If his life wasn't already miserable, it has only just begun being so.

After having walked for a while he passed a bridge, which on it's own had formed the border between the rougher part of Brussels and the rest of the city. As Olivier passed it, he saw a group of people, attacking two others. The sight of this enraged him. He knows that the law is made in such a way that people of foreign origin can do whatever they please, and nobody can stop them and get away with it. These people need to be taught a lesson, Olivier thought to himself. It was then it hit him. Although he knew that nobody would hear him, he said out loud: "They can't fight what they can't see."

He focused himself on becoming invisible. He concentrated until he felt his head was about to pop. But he didn't feel any change.

One of the attackers shouted something. Olivier looked up, and saw that he was the one being shouted at. In other words, he didn't become invisible! The smartest thing to do was to run away. He turned to run, but his right arm wouldn't move with him. He stopped, and turned to look. Somehow, one of them had managed to sneak up on him, and grabbed his arm to keep him from running.

"Let go of me!" Olivier shouted at him. Before he even knew what he was doing, he pulled his arm free, in such a way it caused the attacker to fall down. As he tried to pull himself together, he mumbled a few words, of which Olivier wasn't sure whether it was French or another language. Eitherway, he didn't understand what he said. But judging from the fact that his friends started to round up around Olivier, he guessed that he just made things worse.

"Leave him alone!" a girl voice shouted, in English, surprisingly enough.

But that wasn't the only thing that surprised Olivier. The girl ran towards the gang. Olivier wasn't sure about what he saw then, likely because there wasn't enough light under the bridge, but if he didn't know any better he'd say this girl somehow changed. Once she arrived, she attacked the gang, beating them down one by one. Olivier had a hard time registering what he saw. It looked as though that girl suddenly wore a suit of armor, yet the way the light of the sun shone on it nearly suggested it was really her own skin. Olivier remembered to have seen pictures of what people look like beneath their skins, and that suit is what reminded him of those pictures, or rather it would have it the suit were red instead of black. Her head seemed to have lost all it's hair, and had some kind of a piece to cover her nose and mouth. As for her eyes, they were deep red, and looked like they were made out of glass. Registering her, however, got him distracted. One member of the gang had raised his bat and knocked Olivier down.

The girl stopped fighting. The guy she was trying to help was down. The gang member said a few words, and although the girl didn't at all get him, she did understand what he was trying to say. She changed back into her human form. The whole gang laughed at the sight of her. They were about to have their go, but then they were attacked by the very guy they had beaten down only seconds before. And he fought with an amazing strength. They would punch him, causing them to break their own fists in the progress, or beat him with a stick, causing it to get splintered. It was only a matter of seconds before the whole gang decided to make a run for it.

As they ran away, Olivier had no idea what just happened himself. He felt a soaring pain in his back a very short while before, but suddenly he just got up and fought as if nothing could hurt or at all damage him.

"You OK?" the girl asked him, as she saw his look of bewilderedness on his face.

Olivier was so deep in thoughts, he didn't fully understand what she said at first: "W... what?"

Suddenly realizing she was talking to a foreigner, she used a form of sign language as she spoke: "You... All... Right?"

"I dunno!" Olivier replied, "I really don't!"

The girl sighed out of relief. So he does know her language after all. So she asked: "So you're like me!"

Olivier looked up at her, not entirely sure what she was talking about. Then she continued: "Can you change your form as well?"

Before Olivier could answer, both he and the girl heard a loud moan. The girl reacted by mumbling something as she saw her brother moving. Olivier didn't understand what she said at first, but after hearing her say it repeatedly, and after his confusion had cleared up a little, he realized she had really called that guy by his name. Olivier didn't see much of him, but it was very clear to him how beaten up he was. Olivier took his cell-phone out of his pocket, and called for an ambulance. After he had finished the call, he went to the siblings.

"An ambulance is on it's way! They'll be here in five minutes!"

The girl turned to look at him, and nearly tried not to smile as she said: "Thank you!"

Olivier, who wasn't used to smiling much himself, had to force one. Suddenly he remembered something else. He looked at his watch, then said: "I'm late for class!"

He took of, leaving the girl and her brother to wait for the ambulance to arrive.


	6. Chapter 6

Though the subject that was being taught is one of Olivier's favorites, he didn't pay much attention. The last two days, two things had happened to him that he couldn't explain. And if that wasn't enough, he met a girl who is able to do something almost just as weird. The world he has to live in already didn't make much sense, but now it made even less of that. Knowing that he had to pay attention to class, he couldn't give himself the chance to think more about this. He couldn't wait for break time.

When that time finally arrived, he was outside, eating a sandwich. As he was eating it, he accidentally bit his cheek. He actually felt the pain. Again he could do something, but not anymore. What the hell is going on, he pondered.

"There you are!" he heard someone scream. It wasn't Dutch or French that he heard, but American English. It couldn't be, he thought, as he turned around to see that girl he had met earlier today.

"You?" Olivier said as soon as they were close enough to not scream at each other for conversation, "How did you find me?"

"You said you were late for class!" she explained, "You didn't look like you'd be in elementary school, as there are so many of those around here, so this was the only place you could be going to."

Olivier looked away from her: "Of course. I could have figured that one out myself."

"Is it okay that I tried to find you?" she asked, sounding afraid.

"Well, I can't really talk about what happened to anyone else, can I?" Olivier replied.

The girl sighed of relief: "Oh good! I was afraid you'd be angry."

"How's that guy you were with?" Olivier asked.

"Henry?" the girl replied, "He'll be fine! He's suffering from a concussion, but nothing too serious!"

"Good to hear." Olivier said, but because he had other worries in his mind he nearly sounded as if he didn't care.

The girl didn't seem to care though, and whispered: "So, about what we can do... changing into something."

"To be honest, I don't know what I can do!" Olivier interrupted, though he nearly sounded as if he were shouting, "Yesterday I was invisible, this morning I was invincible!"

The girl shushed him: "Do you want everyone else to know?"

"Don't worry..." Olivier assured her, "... I don't think they can understand us."

"You know English!" the girl reasoned, "Why wouldn't they know any?"

"They hardly even know their own language!" Olivier said, almost sounding arrogant, "How do you expect them to know a foreign language?!"

The girl looked around, then back to him: "I dunno! That guy over there is staring at us."

Olivier looked at whom the girl was pointing. In Dutch, he spoke to the guy: "Something wrong?"

"Are you alright there?" the guy replied with a question.

Not understanding why he asked that, Olivier replied: "...Yeah?"

"You don't need any help?" the guy asked.

And you are gonna help me, Olivier thought as he said out loud: "No, I'm ok."

He turned back to the girl: "He only stared because we're speaking English!"

"Oh... all right." the girl replied.

"You know..." Olivier started, "... I really think it was nice, that thing you change into!"

"Yeah?" the girl replied, "I kinda thought it was freaky! I mean like first my muscles become rocky, then they pop out of my body and form some kind of a shield for me. Because of that, I don't feel much pain either, and I'm a lot stronger and faster than anything else!"

"Yeah, obviously!" Olivier said, "All you need is a motorcycle, start saying 'henshin', and I can call you Kamen Rider!"

The girl took a few seconds before replying: "...Right!"

It did surprise Olivier that she replied like that, since she obviously sounded like she had no idea what he just talked about.

"Anyway, I don't know what I can do, nor do I seem to have any control over it." Oliver said.

"You ever heard of 'Activating Evolution'?" the girl suddenly asked.

The name sounded vaguely familiar, but Olivier had no idea where he had heard it before: "No?"

"Well..." she took a long pause before finishing her sentence, "... maybe it has an answer to all your questions!"

Olivier wasn't sure. He would do anything if it helped him, but he wasn't sure whether this girl will be of any help.

"Don't worry!" she assured him, as she started to wrap her arms around his neck, "At least you know you're not alone in this."

"Can I just have a minute?" he asked her.

"Er... sure!" she answered as she let go of him.

He turned his back to her. She didn't seem to quite understand, but he for some reason didn't seem to care. He is going through something, and just at the same moment someone else with almost the same problem comes along, hanging all over him. He had no idea about what he should think. Suddenly, he spotted Aline, the girl he had a crush on. She was leaning with her back against the wall, with her hands behind her back, her long blond hair hanging down on her shoulders, smiling beautifully as she always was when she smiles. An image flashed through Olivier's mind. One of which he knew he shouldn't imagine. But it was too late! Aline suddenly moved in a weird fashion, almost as if she were struggling against invisible ropes. A fellow student who stood by her asked her what's wrong, but she moaned a reply, as if an invisible gag kept her from talking.

"Oh my World!" the American girl suddenly cried, "What's happening to her?"

"I wish I knew." Olivier replied. He knew he was responsible for her condition, but didn't know how or why.


	7. Chapter 7

Some of Aline's friends had called an ambulance, who arrived just before break time ended. By that time, Olivier had this discussion with the American girl:

"How did I do this?"

"What I wonder is what you did to her!?" the girl replied.

"I had..." Olivier started, but wasn't sure about how to end his sentence, "I... I had a picture in my mind about her, and... apparently she's living that picture now."

The American girl was surprised: "What did you have in mind?"

Olivier knew that if he answered, she wouldn't even want to be a friend anymore. He'd nearly wish he had fantasies about naked women like every other guy as opposed to... whatever he usually fantasizes. Nevertheless, he looked at the American girl, and pictured her in that same sense.

"What?" the girl noticed his look.

Since she was able to answer, unlike Aline, so Olivier knew that again this power had faded away, like the other ones, so he answered: "Nothing! Except that it would look like she might not get out of her... position, unless I figure out how to control... whatever it is that I do!"

"It looks like..." the American girl suggested, though she couldn't figure out the word she wanted to use, "Like when you pick up an object with really touching it, and at the same time hypnotizing her!"

"You mean a mixture of telekinesis and hypnosis?" Olivier asked.

It took her a while before answering: "Yes!"

"So on top of being invincible and invisible, I can..." OIivier started, until the girl interrupted.

"I'm sorry, but did you just say 'invincible' twice?"

Olivier paused for a moment, then answered: "... No. I said in-VI-sible and in-VIN-cible. There's a difference!"

"You can turn invisible too?" the girl acted surprised.

"Er... yeah, didn't I mention that earlier?" Olivier wondered.

"You did?" the girl asked, but suddenly remembered, "Must've thought you said invincible twice then too!"

"...Right." Olivier replied, though it seemed to him like this girl is either not one of the brightest or trying to hide something.

"What are you two doing?!" somebody shouted at them. Olivier looked at who shouted. It was one of Aline's best girl friends.

Trying to look casual, Olivier replied: "...Talking!?"

"Can't you see what's happening?!" that girl asked.

"Yes." Olivier replied, "And obviously I can't do much about it!"

"You could call an ambulance!" the girl suggested.

"Well, since most of you folks already did that, what's one call more or less!" Olivier said coldly, to emphasize his rage against this sudden outburst.

The American girl, meanwhile, not understanding a word of Dutch, asked: "What's happening?"

"Never mind this!"

"What are you two talking about!" it didn't seem like this girl friend was about to let go of Olivier as easily.

Olivier suddenly couldn't handle the pressure anymore. He didn't say anything, but went away from the excitement instead. The American girl followed his lead.

"What was she saying?" she asked him.

Olivier was about to burst out in rage at her, but tried to calm down first, then answered: "As if I'm not pressurized enough already."

Olivier tried to re-arrange his thoughts, looked at his watch, then decided to say: "Look, in about ten minutes this break is over. Then there'll be three straight hours of class! Maybe it's best if you'd come back here at... let us say five! Is that OK?"

The girl didn't know what she was hearing: "Three hours? What am I supposed to do in the meantime?"

Olivier thought it was obvious, so he was surprised to hear her give that as a reply. Nevertheless, he answered her: "You could go see... see that friend of yours!"

Olivier tried to remember the name she had mentioned, but couldn't. The girl didn't even seem to know whom Olivier was talking about: "My friend?"

"That guy you were with?" Olivier explained, surprised, "That guy who's in the hospital? Say, do you even care about...?"

"Oh, you mean Henry!" the girl interrupted, "He's not just a friend, he's my brother!"

Henry, Olivier thought to himself, he couldn't believe he couldn't remember such an easy name. That's when something else hit him: "What's your name?"

The girl took her time to answer, clearly it hadn't occurred to her either that she hasn't introduced herself yet during the time thay were talking: "Mary Susans. You?"

There was something familiar about that name, though Olivier couldn't quite put a finger on it. He decided to put that aside for a minute, and told her his name: "Olivier!"

The girl didn't get it the first time: "What?"

Olivier repeated his name, slower, after which Mary tried to repeat it the way it sounded to her: "O... lee... V... A?"

Like many times before, Olivier began wondering why his parents wanted him to have a French name, then he suggested: "You know what? The English equivalent to that name's 'Oliver', so you can call me that instead!"

Mary agreed, but found it necessary to ask: "Is it okay if I call you Olly?"

"I'd rather not!" he replied flatly.

During class, though interesting as the subjects were, and for those few times they weren't being taught as if singing lullabies, Olivier had other things on his mind. He tried to figure out what it could possibly be that triggers everything that has happened up until recently. Invisibility, super human strength, telekinesis, hypnoses, or something in that nature.

Suddenly, the teacher's cell-phone rang. He answered it and went outside the room for a while. That's when one student decided to talk to Olivier: "Do you know what happened earlier?"

Olivier was so deep into thoughts, or given that he didn't know how to answer, he pretended to be. It took several seconds before that student started to pull on Olivier's sleeve.

"What?!" Olivier responded to the physical contact.

"I just asked you something!" the student replied.

"Well, I guess I didn't hear you." Olivier replied.

"I asked you about Aline!" the student, more or less, repeated.

The sound of that name alone made Olivier shiver, but he still managed to reply: "I have no idea!"

"Not even a thought?" the student asked.

Olivier didn't at all get that question. Especially in the context that they were used, 'idea' and 'thought' meant the same thing. For once in his whole life, Olivier was relieved when the teacher came back inside the classroom to resume class.

Olivier couldn't believe that of all the possible times, his fellow students decided this time to stop ignoring him. Ironic, since he wanted them to start noticing him, and now that they are he'd rather be left alone. And THAT is when it hit him! The day before, he didn't want to be seen or heard when he made the phone call, and he became invisible. That morning, he wanted to stand up to that gang and he suddenly had all the speed and agility to do it. This afternoon, he pictured Aline in a certain way, and that became reality. And just when he didn't want to be ignored anymore, that became reality too. It's like he can wish for things to happen. But if so, then why did it take so long for them to start noticing him? No, he thought, there has to be a more rational explanation. But then he remembered something else, a repressed memory if you will, of something that happened back at high school. There was this guy who was saying not so nice things to him. There wasn't much Olivier could do about that, so he decided to ignore that guy at the time. That guy however didn't want Olivier to just walk away, and started to push him around. He grabbed Olivier at his shirt, and held him up against the wall. Olivier used his hands to try to make him let go, but he was too weak. Then something happened! The guy started to suffocate, as if being strangled! Olivier didn't put his hands anywhere near that guy's neck, so he couldn't have been strangling him. The hall monitor eventually intervened, and the guy could breathe again. He tried to convince everybody that Olivier tried to kill him, but there was nothing on his body that indicated that Olivier started any attack, nor did he show any marks of being strangled. It didn't take long until he was send to an institution. It was Olivier's opinion that guy deserved worse, but it still bothered him to this very day about how he got in. He got in because he was getting killed by some invisible force. Could it be that Olivier had wished the guy dead at the time?


	8. Chapter 8

A cell-phone rang through the classroom, and it wasn't the teacher's. When he heard it, he stopped talking and looked around. It didn't appear that whoever was being called was about to answer.

"Someone's ex-boy or girlfriend that can't stop calling you?" the teacher remarked.

The entire class laughed at the remark, as did Olivier, even though it was his cell-phone that was ringing. He didn't want to look like a fool in front of the whole class, so he waited until the phone stopped ringing. When it stopped, the teacher resumed class, pretending nothing happened. Olivier, on the other hand, took his cell-phone out of his pocket, and looked at it's screen. There was a number on that screen, which means that whoever called him was somebody he didn't know, or else that somebody's name would be on the screen. He decided to wait until after class to call that number.

Even though he told Mary to come at five o'clock, class ended about fifteen minutes sooner. That's when Olivier decided to call that number. It didn't need to ring once before somebody answered the phone.

"Finally, you're calling! You're rockhard to reach" a girl's voice said.

Olivier recognized the voice. It belonged to Aline's best girl friend, the one who shouted at him earlier: "You? How did you get my number?"

"Aline gave it to me!" she answered, "Anyway, that doesn't matter! She asked me to tell you that she wants to see you!"

Hearing this, Olivier's heart began beating faster, a cold shiver ran down the arm that held the phone, and his voice began to sound shakily: "She... she wants to see me?"

"Yeah! It took me a rocklong while to finally understand that that's what she wanted!" she replied, quickly changing Olivier's shivers into another twitch, because she said "rocklong".

OIivier tried to get himself over that, and asked: "Where can I find her?"

Once she told him where the hospital is, Olivier hung up the phone. He hoped he could go there, and be back in time to see Mary, so he wished himself to the hospital, hoping that he would end up somewhere where nobody would see him appear out of nowhere, but at the same time somewhere close enough. So he closed his eyes, made the wish, then opened them again. He was surprised when he opened them, but not because the wish actually came true, but because he was inside Aline's room at the hospital. Once he laid his eyes upon her oh so sweet face, though it appeared to be pleading, and seemingly unaware that he materialized into the room, he had a hard time to breath. Suddenly, he didn't know what to do at all! He wished to be there with her, and here he is, without any explanation ready for what just happened. On top of that, when he saw her lying in the position she was in, still seemingly bound by invisible ropes, a sort of excitement went through him, helping him forget he should wish her out of this. It took an angry moan from her to remind him of what he should be doing. He got the message, and closed his eyes again. He tried to picture her walking around freely, being able to move again, and even hold him as if they were... He stopped thinking at that, afraid of what might happen after that. He opened his eyes again, and saw that she could move again. Olivier sighed of relief, but Aline wasn't paying attention to that.

"Some wishes you have."

Olivier looked at her in surprise. What does she know about his wishes?

"What are you talking about?"

"Do you at all even realize how rockweird that was? That I suddenly couldn't move or speak anymore?" she kept raving on.

Olivier felt he was going to have a stroke if he hears the word 'rock' one more time. But that thought cleared from his mind, once he realized that she was saying things that on his side didn't make much sense.

"Er... can you slow down a little, please! What you're going on about?"

"What do you think? When you thought of seeing me all b...!" she replied, but got interrupted.

"Hold on! What do you know about my thoughts?"

Aline did not at all hesitate to answer: "You dumberling! Who do you think granted you those wishes?"

Now Olivier didn't know what he has to be surprised about: the news he just recieved, or the fact that those first two words, which she said in English, were litteral translations of what people say in Dutch.


	9. Chapter 9

"Wha... wha... what did you just say?" Olivier couldn't believe it.

"Ever watched 'Alladin'?" Aline asked him.

Olivier took his time to answer. Knowing that 'Alladin' is a story from 'Arabian Nights', the appropriate question should be 'Ever read Alladin?', but no! Because Disney made an animated feature film, the question became 'Ever seen Alladin?'. Trying to put that idea aside for a while, Olivier answered: "Er...Yes!?"

"Know how that genie grants all your wishes?" she kept asking.

"Er... Yeah!?" Olivier kept answering.

"I can do that too!" Aline finished, "I can grant all of people's greatest wishes! Like yesterday, I could tell you didn't want to be seen when you were making that call."

This didn't make any sense to Olivier: "You made me invisible? Then why did you act like I left you to your friends?"

"I..." she hesitated to answer, "I... just thought that if I made it seem to you that I made you invisible, you'd think I'm a freak."

Clearly, Olivier had no idea as to how he should feel about this.

"So you're the one who even made me stronger this morning, when I had to face that gang?" Olivier asked, interrupting her.

Aline didn't answer immediately. Her facial expressions gave away that she didn't know what he talked about, but after thinking about it, she knew an answer: "Is that what happened? I did feel weird this morning. Not sure what I did, but I must have done something that caused that feeling to go away."

"Almost like you could feel my needs at a distance." Olivier wasn't sure what to think of this.

"Could be." Aline answered, "Though, I've never done that before!"

"I don't suppose you don't even know that you just teleported me in here?" Olivier asked suggestively.

Again, Aline didn't answer immediately, but somehow she knew this time what Olivier talked about, and answered: "I guess I did."

Unfortunately for both of them, not all of Olivier's questions were answered. For one, what happened to that guy back at high school then? For another, and this he asked out loud: "And why exactly did you grant that wish that got you here? Or rather, how did you know I wished for it?"

"I... I dunno!" she answered, "I guess I just... I just...!"

Olivier decided that for some reason that answer wasn't easy for her, so he skipped to the next question: "OK, I've got an easier one: Why me? Why, of all people, do you wanna grant my wishes?"

She clearly did some quick thinking, before she answered to him: "I... I just felt that you had the greatest need for things. That's all."

This would seem like a sensible answer, but Olivier did not believe it for some reason: "That's... all? Are you sure?"

She didn't answer, but somehow one could tell that the answer was indeed 'no'. Olivier sighed. He didn't know what to say or what to do. Here he is, alone, with the one girl in the world he ever wanted to be with, for once feeling less pressurized than usual, and yet... it all became so quiet.

"You want to know why?" Aline finally decided to interrupt the silence, "You really want to know?"

Olivier looked up, back at her, by which time she had moved a bit closer to him. He was surprised, not particularly because she had moved as close, but that he could've been so deep in thoughts that he didn't even hear her shoes click with every step she took to be so close to him. Immediately after he had his eyes on her, she grabbed his face with both of her hands, pressed her lips against his, and kissed him deeply. Though from the eyewitness's point of view, this kiss lasted only a few seconds, but to Olivier it felt a lot longer. After she stopped, he had a hard time to stay on his feet.

"Yes..." she explained to him, "I... I've had feelings for you for a rocklong time. It was so rockhard for me to tell you directly, so I thought that through granting your wishes, I'd get a rocklot more atten..."

"STOP!!!" Olivier shouted. Her kissing him has brought the pressure he felt earlier back, and the last thing he needed was for someone to keep saying 'rock' the whole time. Once he cooled of a little, he decided that he wasn't particularly nice by shouting to her like that.

"I'm sorry." he apologized, "This may surprise you, but I'm kinda new to this sort of thing. And having to hear 'rock' all day every day really doesn't help."

Aline didn't seem to understand him: "What do you mean?"

"What do I mean?" he replied, "Yesterday you said 'rockdifficult'! Today someone mentioned 'rockhard'! And you..."

Aline didn't seem to understand the problem: "It's an expression?!"

"Rocksolid is an expression!" Olivier exclaimed, "Some things can be solid like a rock! Not difficult like a rock! Not long like a rock! Not weird like a rock! Need I go on?"

"But..." Aline still didn't understand, "Everybody talks like that!"

"Hey, I wouldn't mind if one person talks like that the whole time!" Olivier added, "I wouldn't mind if everyone talks like that on occasions! But... keep talking like that every day, every hour, every minute, every second... doesn't that drive you nuts?"

"I'm just trying to fit in." she answered, sounding like she's practically in tears.

"Hey, I am, apparently, one of the 'normal' ones and even among them I am an outsider." Olivier replied, "I really don't want to have to live in a world where people all act the same, talk the same, laugh at the same thing,..."

As he was going on like this, he noticed that Aline didn't appear as her usual cheerful self anymore. It would look like his little outburst had made her sad. Olivier tried to cheer her up: "Look, I'm sorry if I upset you. It's just the use of the word rock the whole time... it drives me nuts. And... I really have picked the right moment to talk about that, haven't I !?"

"No, you're right." she replied, "I only talked like that because everyone else does. I didn't know you felt that way about it. And I thought I was weird!"

Olivier wasn't sure whether he should take that as a compliment, or as a relief. In either case, for a reason he didn't know himself, he felt somewhat happier inside. He looked at her, straight into her marble blue eyes. He normally would have felt somewhat taken aback at a moment like this, but not this time. He moved his face closer to hers, and kissed her intensely. The first time that she kissed him, came as a surprise, and it was her doing for the most part than it was his. But this time, he was definitely part of the action, and he could feel a sensation that he had never ever experienced before.


	10. Chapter 10

They could've gone on like this for a long time, and perhaps even do more. But unfortunately, since Aline had entered the hospital with unknown symptoms, it is of course great news when she has returned to normal.

"You're OK?" a nurse, who entered the room at that moment, commented right before she left the room to call the doctors.

"Oh boy..." Olivier mumbled.

But Aline knew just what to say: "Don't worry! They'll probably just observe me for the rest of the day, but I'll be just fine. Don't worry!"

"Are you sure?" Olivier would rather stay a little longer, but Aline made it clear to him that that wasn't an option, though he could tell from looking into her eyes that she would want it to be different as well. Once the doctors had entered the room, though, he was more or less thrown out of the room. Somebody else had to make the decision for him. There wasn't much else he could do, so he walked through the hallway, in order to leave.

For the first time in his life, his mind was completely clear. Somehow, even when hearing the radio or the TV that some of the patients were watching or listening to, nothing could help him to think about something else.

"... had lost the game with a 0-3..."

"... that has been raging for many years..."

"... that is going on between Nathan Petrelli and..."

"... should we do! He's dead!..."

He heard it all, but somehow it didn't help him to keep his mind straight. In his mind he was still with her back in the room, continuing what they started. Though... that didn't last long until he remembered he had to meet with Mary back at school. He wanted to wish himself there, but decided he'd better cut Aline some slack. So he had to find a good excuse to be late at their meeting.

"You? What are you doing here?" a familiar voice said.

Olivier looked up, to see that it was a classmate of his. A guy from Holland, a Dutchman, of which Olivier was surprised to meet him here.

"Probably the same thing as you are." Olivier answered, staying relatively calm "Visiting someone."

"You know." the guy said, "You're very tense the whole time. You should relax a little more!"

Olivier had already found a way to relax, and though he was curious about what the guy had to say, he had no time to listen. But the Dutchman seemed to insist that Olivier would listen.

"I may have something that would interest you." the Dutchman said, as he took a piece of paper out of his pocket, unfolded it, and showed it to Olivier. He looked at it. It was a sort of leaflet, printed from the internet by the looks of it. It had a picture of a blond girl on it, barely dressed, and staring at whoever's looking at the picture. There was some info underneath the picture, which Olivier wanted to read, just when the Dutchman continued speaking.

"She would do anything you want her to! She'll strip, she'll dance,... anything you can think of! As long as you pay her enough! What do you say?"

All Olivier could say was: "Isn't that the girl from 'Final Destination'?"

"I wouldn't know." the Dutchman replied, "I don't really like horror movies. Think they're disgusting."

Olivier looked at him surprised: "You can watch porn every day, and you think horror is disgusting?"

"Er... yeah??" the Dutchman didn't seem to get this remark at all, but didn't seem to care much either, "Anyway... she would do anything you want her to! She'll strip, she'll dance,... anything you can think of! As long as you pay her enough! What do you say?"

Olivier didn't look at the Dutchman, and started to walk away as he answered: "That you sound like a broken record."

He didn't care much about what the Dutchman thought of him now that he made that remark. He fumbled the leaflet, and started looking for a bin to throw this in. Next time Olivier hears or reads names like either 'Niki' or 'Sanders', he won't look at them the way he once did. Once he threw it in a bin, the next thought occurred to him: that it's not bad enough that he receives spam on his e-mail address, and now he receives it in person. The latter appeared a lot worse, because it has been a waste of his time. Although, what happened next almost made Olivier glad that he had run into the Dutchman.

The corridor he was in ended into another corridor, where a small group of doctors and/or nurses were walking through, along with a typical hospital-bed on wheels. Whoever was lying on it, was dead, since his or her face was covered with a sheet as well. What surprised Olivier most however was that Mary was with them, carrying around a bag that had 'Sterling Books' printed on it, which was a shop in downtown Brussels. And though she appeared to be crying, she didn't sound like it. The group had passed by Olivier, without even noticing him. Olivier would love to know who died. He hadn't thought it yet, and there suddenly was a drought, that blew the sheet away. When that happened, Olivier could see the body's face: it was Henry, Mary's brother! He's dead! But she said earlier that he would be just fine! Did she kill him? If so, then why did it take her three hours to pull it off? And why is she carrying a bag of a local book store? Olivier had no answers at the ready. But if anything, he knew for sure that he'd better hurry back to the school building, so she wouldn't see that he was in the hospital at the same time as she was.


	11. Chapter 11

As fast as he could, Olivier had ran to the rendez-vous spot. It was 05.10 pm when he returned. He looked for a suitable bench to sit on, and waited for Mary to come. While he was waiting, he realized that at first he wanted to meet with her because he didn't know who else to talk to. He didn't even understand why he was so eager to meet with her before he found out about her dead brother. He guessed that some part of him wanted to be at least a good friend to her, an outsider like himself. Right at this moment, however, there has been a slight change of plan: he wanted to know who she really is, and what she's up to.

When Mary arrived, about forty minutes later, Olivier had seen her before she saw him. The first thing he noticed is that she was holding a book under her right arm. Olivier couldn't make out the title, but he had an idea where it came from. Once she spotted Olivier, she ran to him, smiling brightly, though surprised about something.

"You've been waiting for me? I thought you'd have gone already."

"Belgian patience." Olivier suggested.

Mary smirked: "I guess so. Back in F... Texas, people would should you if you're one second too late."

Olivier wasn't sure whether he heard her right. He could have sworn she was about to say something else, but quickly corrected herself. He wasn't given much time to think about it either, as she raised the book she held, and said: "Look what I've got!"

The book was entitled 'Activating Evolution'. She had mentioned that title to him earlier. Olivier tried to act surprised that she had got this with her, and asked her: "You took that with you from the States?"

The girl seemed to have rehearsed the next line: "Yeah. Thought that I might wanna take some light reading with me. And hopefully find out what it is that's happening to me."

"Can I look into it?" Olivier requested.

"Why else do you think I took it with me?" she replied, with her usual big smile.

She gave the book to him. He looked at it the same way he always looks at books: the front cover first, then look at the backside. But as he was about to turn the book around, Mary stopped him: "Don't...!"

Olivier looked back at her surprised. Seeing his look of surprise, Mary quickly explained: "Er... reading the back would ruin reading the book! Trust me!"

It sounded reasonable to Olivier... if he were reading fiction! But this book, as far as he knows, is non-fiction. In Olivier's opinion, Mary couldn't be acting more suspicious. But he could be imagining things, so just to be sure, he asked: "So how's your brother?"

"He couldn't be better!" she didn't need to continue, but she did anyway: "Unfortunately, he won't be able to visit Belgium like he wanted to, so he has to return to the U.S., asap!"

Olivier was pretty sure that Henry's returning, in a coffin!

"Anyway, take a look at this!" she said, as she flipped through the book, until she had found what she wanted to show him, "This here says that a man could somehow, like a sponge, absorb people's abilities."

Olivier wasn't sure what to think of this: "... So?"

"It means that if you were around anybody else with special abilities, you'd can all da sudden use their powers." Mary explained.

Nearly, Olivier had told her that he wasn't the one with special powers. But even if he was, he was sure that what he just heard isn't the right explanation: "If that's so, shouldn't I have met someone who can turn invisible too? Or use telekinesis? Or..."

Mary understood him: "Yeah, I see what you mean. No worries! I've found something else too."

She flipped a little further, and turned back to him when she had found it: "Here! It talks about the idea that people can change the world around them. What was once there is gone, or has grown larger! Or a person can make himself look different to others,... the possibilities are endless."

Olivier was thinking out loud when he said: "You mean... changing reality?"

"Yeah! That's exactly what this writer says!" Mary remarked, "Are you sure you haven't read the book?"

Olivier woke up from a trance, and answered: "Sorry, just thinking out loud. It would make sense though. What I did to that girl wasn't particularly ordinary either. It was literally a fantasy made real!"

"Oh right! How is she?" Mary asked.

She's been telling him many lies for a while, and for Aline's sake, he'd better do the same: "She's alright, for as far as I know."

"Don't you wanna go see her?" Mary asked.

"And tell her what?" Olivier reasoned, and though he was inventing it all on the spot, there was some truth to what he said, "Tell her that I have too much of an imagination?"

"Maybe we can go tell her together." Mary suggested.

Olivier had to do some more quick thinking: "No... It's awkward as it is. Besides, she doesn't know enough English to understand you."

"So?" Mary made it pretty clear that she didn't understand why he didn't want to see her.

There was only one way Olivier could think of to get out of it: "Look, I just don't feel comfortable to see her. I... I just..."

Mary seemed to understand now, though she sounded disappointed when she said: "...I see!"

Olivier looked at his watch. It was getting closer to 06.00 pm, and Olivier was starting to feel hungry. He'd rather be somewhere else right now. He could think of only one way out: "Say, er..."

"Yes?" Mary replied.

"Can I borrow that book for the night?" Olivier asked.

Mary obviously didn't expect that question. She held the book closer to her chest, started to scratch her neck, revealing a scar consisting of two black parallel lines, and finally said: "I dunno. I... It's kind of a Bible to me! I hoped we'd look into it together!"

"Yes." Olivier seemed to understand, or made it seem that way, "But I'm a little tired right now. I'd rather sit down somewhere more comfortable and read it at my own speed."

"Can I think about it for a moment?" was her question for a reply.

Olivier had no direct reason to turn down that request, so he motioned 'All right'. She turned her back to him. Olivier wasn't sure about what she was doing, but could tell that she was doing something to that book, and even dropped some kind of piece of paper. Olivier wasn't sure what it was. Whatever she had done, when she appeared to have finished she turned back to him.

"OK, just bring it back to me tomorrow!" she said.

"Same time, here, tomorrow?" Olivier asked.

"Sure!" she confirmed.

"I'll see you then!" Olivier said as he turned away from her.

"Bye, Oliver!" she called at him before she took off.

"Bye!" he called back.

He heard her walking away. He turned his head to see how far away she was. As fast as he could, he hid himself in the bushes. Once Mary was out of sight, he came out of the bushes again. He tried to find that piece of paper he had seen her drop. Seeing as it was sticky and had a monetary price on it, Olivier recognized it as a price tag. Not only that, the price was in Euros, rather than Dollars, and though he didn't see the name of the shop, he recognized the symbol. This book was bought downtown. No mistake about it!


	12. Chapter 12

Once Mary was sure she was out of Oliver's sight, she took her cell-phone out of her pocket. She speed-dialed a number, waited for a moment, then somebody answered.

"Hi." Mary started talking, "My brother is no longer gonna hold me back, and..."

"No, so I noticed!" the guy on the other side replied.

Mary was shocked to hear him talk to her like that: "What do you mean? I did what I had to..."

"But killing him wasn't particularly what we had in mind!" the man replied to her, "Then again, what's done is done. How's that Oliver guy coming?"

Finally, Mary could get to the point: "I think I'm gaining his trust, but... You see, there's this other girl, and..."

Though all she needed to say is that Oliver had deep feelings for the girl she was mentioning, she seemed to feel quite awkward to put it into words. Luckily for her, the man she spoke to had interpreted the tone she was using: "I see. Then all you have to do is make her look like a bad girl to him, so he will never want to look at her again."

"How am I supposed to do that?" Mary was puzzled.

"That's your problem." the man replied just before he disconnected.

Mary looked at her phone, imagining the man's face to be on the screen, and feeling the urge to punch it. She thought that over, after which pocketed her phone instead and began to scheme her next move.

Olivier had walked as fast as he could to the hospital. Before he went into Aline's room, especially since it wasn't a visiting hour yet, he went to the vending machines and took as many snacks as he could carry. Today's events had really starved him, he'd nearly wish he had more penny cash to get some more snacks. When that thought occurred to him, he became afraid to look into his wallet and finding a lot more pennies than he remembered to have had. It made him wonder what it was that made Aline even able to grant any of his at great distances. He looked it up in the book. After he finished reading about Aline's powers, he'll see what he can find out about his American 'friend'.

There was only one hospital in the neighborhood, but given the girl's state, Mary couldn't be sure whether she would be at that hospital, or another one. The only way for her to know for sure is when she would visit all the hospitals, but since she has no idea as to what the girl is named, checking every room of every hospital in Brussels will take too long. And that's assuming that the girl is still in Brussels. The only thing she could do was look into the school's files, and look at all the pictures. She ran back to the castle. Oliver was out of sight. She sighed of relief. She ran to the main entrance. She didn't transform, but she did allow her body to become as rocky as she described it, in order to break the window without scratching or breaking her hand. She rummaged for a key that would open the door, but didn't find one. As she was leaning against the door however, it just opened out of itself. The door didn't have an doorknob to turn, nor was it locked to begin with. Not only has she got a job to find the girl, now she must somehow cover her tracks too.


	13. Chapter 13

By the time Olivier had returned to the hospital, and told Aline about her abilities, it had already gotten dark outside. Once Olivier had finished talking, though, all Aline could say was: "What are you saying? I can do things without people wishing for them?"

"Pretty much, yeah." Olivier replied.

"That doesn't make sense." Aline claimed.

Olivier smiled: "Does staying at the hospital when you're perfectly healthy make sense?"

"They think that I might fall back into that... condition." Aline explained, "So they thought they'd keep me for observation."

"Of course." Olivier said, seemingly understanding, "Anyway, according to this book, your DNA stream..."

Olivier paused, since he wasn't sure about how to translate into Dutch what he had just read, nor was he sure he understood everything it said. Eventually, he decided to say the following: "Bottom line is that you somehow combine some form of hypnosis, telekinesis, and many other things, which help you change the world around you."

"But how do you explain I couldn't get myself loose until you wished me to be?" Aline asked.

"Perhaps because you believed you couldn't." Olivier answered, "How should I know? This book doesn't mention anything about people granting wishes, so..."

Aline suddenly became curious about that book, which Olivier held the entire time they talked, and suddenly asked: "Where did you get that anyway?"

Olivier felt a little awkward to answer that question, but reminded himself he doesn't need to hide that at all: "Remember that girl I talked to around midday?"

"She gave you that book?" Aline asked, after which Olivier nodded, "Who is she?"

"She's an American tourist. She had a little run-in with a gang this morning, and I helped her, with your help."

Aline became suspicious: "And you saw her this midday because...?"

"She's like you. Sort of..."

"Like me?" Aline couldn't believe it.

"That is..." Olivier continued, "... she's someone with extraordinary powers too. As this book would say, she somehow hardens her muscles until they are as strong as stone. Then they would... somehow become some kind of body-armor to her. In other words, she transforms into a fighting machine."

Aline couldn't be more surprised: "Afraidally!"

Out of habit, Olivier would have smacked his forehead, but found this wasn't at all an appropriate time. That word she just mentioned, 'afraidally', Olivier had at some point in his life taken his time to look it up in the dictionary. He didn't find it, so the word doesn't exist. And yet, everybody he knows uses that word frequently, as opposed to the English 'cool'. Nevertheless, Olivier decided to continue what he wanted to tell her.

"Think of her as you like, but I don't trust her!"

"You don't? Why?" Aline could not understand.

"For one, it's been a little too convenient that she had brought this book with her on this trip. Plus she didn't buy it in the States, like she said she did, but in a book store downtown! Also she came with her brother, who got wounded in the fight with the gang, and even though she said he'll be alright, I saw his body being carried to the morgue! Need I go on?"

Aline didn't need to hear more: "What's she up to?"

"I don't know. So far, she doesn't even know that you are the one doing... doing you-know-what. Until we know her true motives, we'd better keep it that way!"

Out of Aline's facial expression, Olivier knew she didn't quite understand, so he explained: "Who knows what trap she'd lure you into."

There has been a long silence between the two. Neither knew what to say. Olivier for one thought he sounded like a clichéd knight on a white horse, trying to protect a though-not-yet damsel in distress, whereas Aline couldn't understand why Olivier was prepared to go through such lengths just to protect her. He must be either really stupid, or too smart for his own good.

After their awkward silence, Aline decided to ask him: "Can I see that book?"

Olivier seemed to wake out of a trance, and replied: "Yeah... yeah of course."

He gave her the book. She flipped over some of the pages, as English wasn't at all an easy language for her to understand.

"You know..." Olivier started, "You told me you find English quite difficult, and yet I hear you use English words every once in a while."

Aline didn't expect that he'd bring that up: "Oh... I just... Sometimes, some things I wanna say just sound better in English."

If you'd use the right words in the right context they would all right, Olivier thought to himself.

Aline had flipped to the index pages, when she tried to make her point: "I mean, listen to these words! They have such a nice sound, don't you think? Bending reality. Chameleon..."

She read all the words, not knowing the meaning to at least half of them.

"Pyrokinesis. Taking live..." she went on.

It was that last thing she said that shook Olivier: 'Taking lives'! When they say that it usually means to kill people. What's so special about that? Or... is there some kind of other meaning to it?

"Are you okay?" Aline suddenly asked.

Again, Olivier woke out of a trance. Not only that, he also realized that he had a dry throat: "Yeah... er... Would you mind if I go get something to drink?"

"No. Not at all." Aline assured him.

"Want me to take something for you too?" he asked before he left.

"No, I'll be fine."


	14. Chapter 14

Olivier made his way to the vending machines. He took his wallet out of his pocket, opened it, and wasn't entirely surprised about finding some penny cash, as he was afraid he'd find earlier. As he took his favorite soda out of the machine, he was pondering about something. He has read the book, he more or less knew what it is that Aline does, but he still hasn't got all the answers. He still doesn't know why she was able to help him even though he was so far away from her, nor does he have any answer as to why that guy back in high school nearly choked to death. Olivier was about to open the can of soda, when a thought about what Aline had read from the index occurred to him. And suddenly, he had the answer he was looking for. But he still needs to be sure, so he waited to open the can, and rushed to Aline's room.

Aline searched through the book, not particularly looking for anything. She didn't understand much of what was written, but some of the pictures that the book illustrated were enough to suggest what they were about. Aside of the pictures that had DNA-strings on them, there were pictures (though mostly drawings) of people that would walk through a wall, fly, move things only by pointing at them, see the future,... whoever this guy is that wrote this must be either insane, or really smart. Had he written this with the knowledge that people like these were real, she wouldn't say he's crazy.

That's when Aline heard something. A sound of something breaking outside her window. Curious as it made her, she walked to the window. She looked through it, but because of the light inside her room and the darkness outside she couldn't really see anything. She opened the window, in the hope she could see more. She sticked her head out, but still saw nothing that could have made the sound she heard. Suddenly, she felt two hands! One hand grabbed her collar, the other grabbed her mouth, to keep her from screaming.

"Don't scream, or I'll throw you down! Clear?" a distorted female voice said to her.

Aline tried to fight against it at first, but soon realized she couldn't do much. She didn't know what it was that the woman, or whatever it was, had said to her, but it sounded like some kind of command. She could only guess, and in a way hope, that she had warned her not to do something or else she'd die.

Olivier had returned to the room, only to see that some humanoid creature, hanging upside down out the window, had Aline in it's grip. Despite the fact that it was in the dark, Olivier could make out enough to recognize the creature as Mary, in her transformed state. The sight of this spooked Olivier. He dropped his can, took one step back as he subconsciously closed the door behind him. Mary spoke to him, her voice being distorted from the transformation:

"Oliver! So glad to see you!"

Olivier didn't understand how saying that could possibly even fit in this picture. Regardless, he tried to come closer, and hoped that Aline would at least understand enough of this conversation, so she'd understand what's going on too. Olivier started talking to Mary: "What's going on here?"

"She's trying to use you!" Mary replied.

Knowing that the answer was going to be a lie, Olivier asked her: "What do you mean?"

While Aline was trying to get the hands off her, Mary answered: "She was trying to find out how to use your powers for her own benefit!"

When Aline had abruptly stopped struggling, Olivier thought she had understood that bit. She moaned a few words, of which Olivier could only guess what they were about. But he knew better, suddenly forgetting his fears, and said determinedly: "She wants to use me?! How would she do that?"

"She has her own ambitions, you know!" Mary replied, "She wants you to help her accomplish them, after which she'll just drop you like a..."

"Cut the crap!" Olivier interrupted her, as he moved closer, "I've had enough of your lies!"

Mary, although her face couldn't be seen, definitely looked surprised: "...What lies?"

"Your dead brother! That book, which you bought at a store downtown! Need I go on?" Olivier exclaimed.

Suddenly, Mary had no clue as to how to respond. She didn't know how Olivier could have possibly figured any of that out, nor was she sure of what he has seen so she couldn't even tell him that what Olivier had seen wasn't what it looked like. The thoughts had distracted her. A jolt of electricity suddenly went through her body, and she had no idea where it came from. Olivier knew that it was Aline who had caused that to happen. Mary was paralyzed for a moment, which was long enough for her to let go of whatever she was holding onto to hang upside down, and fall down. She didn't let go of Aline though, so she dragged her out the window. Olivier tried to stop it, but he was too late. While Mary had found something to hold onto underneath the window, she had let go of Aline as soon as she was out the window, and had let her fall down to the ground.


	15. Chapter 15

Mary climbed inside the room. Once she was inside, she changed back into her human form, and addressed herself to Olivier: "Look, this may be..."

Olivier didn't give her any chance to finish her sentence. He punched her in her face, a few times in her stomach, and pushed her against the wall behind her.

She tried to get up, as she wiped the blood from her face. Olivier was obviously not used to giving punches like these, and the one he gave her in the face was especially painful. Mary could tell when she saw him shaking his hand as if trying to shake the pain away. That's when she tried one more time to tell him something: "I don't expect you to believe me, but I did the right thing by killing her."

"Oh yeah?! How's that?" Olivier asked, sarcastically.

"She was trying to find a way to use your powers..." she continued, but got interrupted.

"How would you know what she was up to!?" Olivier couldn't be convinced.

"I dont know! I guess you'll have to trust that this is true!" Mary replied.

"Well I got a newsflash for you!" Olivier stated, "I'm not the one bending reality! She is! Was rather!

Mary was surprised to hear this: "What? You... she... What?"

"You really didn't know that?" Olivier didn't particularly sound surprised when she said that, "If you'd somehow have known what she's up to, surely you'd have found that out too!"

Mary looked from Olvier to the window, hearing people talking from one window to the next, likely about hearing something hitting the bottom. She looked back at Olivier.

"Now you have a bit of a problem, don't ya?" Olivier smirked, "In all honesty, I had some kind of physical contact with her earlier, so there'll be traces leading to me, so I'll be a suspect. Also, there will be hand prints left on her, which came from you. And after everything, don't think I'll cover for you!"

Mary started to look scared, but nearly didn't sound like it when she said: "You wouldn't do that!"

"Oh yes I would..." Olivier raised some kind of a book which he had held in his other hand, opened it and read whatever it said on the inside, "... Ashley Jameson!"

It took a while before Mary realized that he had her international passport in his hands. He must've somehow taken it out of her pocket when he was punching her. Before she tried to say another word, Olivier continued: "Damn! Even your name was a lie! And Florida? Didn't you say you're from Texas?"

Now Mary, or rather Ashley, knew she was trapped, but couldn't do much, and Olivier was making no effort to not remind her of that: "The commotion here must have warned some people as well. It's a matter of seconds before they come here and ask questions!"

"Stop it already!!" Ashley screamed.

"Next to the school building there's a clearing." Olivier suddenly sounded compassionate, "Take Aline there, and wait for me!"

Ashley had never heard him mention that name before, but she guessed that that's what's the girl, whom she just killed, called. She transformed back into the fighting machine, jumped out of the window, grabbed the dead body and made her way to where the school building is located.

Olivier had hidden himself behind the door. When people entered the room, they were surprised to find the room both empty and messy. Whenever he was sure nobody looked behind their backs, Olivier took his chance to run out of the room, out of the building, and back to the school as fast as he could.

Olivier couldn't believe just how many times he has walked this path in one day. All out of both curiosity and love. All he could hope now is that whatever he had in mind will work, especially since he's been improvising for the most part.

He made it to the clearing. Aline was lying right in the middle of it, but Ashley was nowhere in sight. He looked around, but couldn't find her. The bump he felt on his neck the next second made him realize that she found him first.

"You made it!" her distorted voice sounded, "But did you really think I was gonna let you get away with this?"

Olivier tried to pull himself together, but Ashley kicked him in his stomach to keep him down, and said: "I have killed for you, and this is what I get! You're not gonna turn me in!"

Olivier heard every word she said, but none seemed to reach to him as they made no sense whatsoever, not even when she added this: "I told my brother that you helped, and that we should thank you, but he refused, and I killed him! I killed him... because I wanted to know you! I didn't even mean to kill him, but he kinda forced me to it!"

Olivier was sure she said 'kinda'. It helped him realize the sarcasm in her voice. He tried to get up again, but got help this time... sort of. Ashley grabbed him by the throat, and held him against the tree behind him. She continued: "And I had known all along that she was doing the things you thought you were doing! That's why she had to die! But now you don't trust me? After everything I did? I've had enough of your crap!"

For whatever reason, a joke that Will Smith had once made in one of his films went through Olivier's mind: 'I'm sorry, I'm allergic to bullshit.' and that was exactly what all of this sounded like. Olivier tried to squeeze Ashley's arm with his right hand, and with his still soaring left hand he tried to push her head away.

"That won't work!" she sounded satisfied, "I'm too strong for y... AAAAHHH!!!!!"

Something made Ashley weaker. She screamed as loud as she could, and her body changed back to her normal human shape again. She had let go of him, after which he pushed her away. Not only did his hand no longer feel any more pain, he also seemed to have gained some kind of new strength.

"So..." Ashley started as she was trying to get up again, "You have some strength of your own!"

Then there was a pause. After that, she looked at her body, seemingly surprised. Something should have happened, but it didn't!

"Would this be what you're trying to do?" Olivier asked rhetorically, as his body suddenly changed into the fighting machine she usually changed into, "You're powers are mine now!"

He ran to her, and punched her in the face. He grabbed her by her arms, and threw her to the tree to which she had held him moments ago. He went on doing this until she started to cough blood. He walked towards her, to do one last thing, when she decided to do say something: "So... you're that Carmenizer now!"

Olivier stopped dead in his tracks, since he had no idea what she was talking about. Then she continued, convinced that she had his attention: "And now what? Are you going to kill me? How will that make you any better than me?"

"You've seen 'The Punisher' then?!" Olivier remarked, believing that she just used a phrase that was mentioned in that movie, "But unlike him, I can do better than just killing you!"

He picked her up, moved himself to Aline, laid her right next to her lifeless body, then changed back into his normal form.

"I'm only speculating, but if this works..." Olivier stated as he laid his right hand on her chest and his left one on Aline's,"... One psychotic girl dies, and a nice one lives. Sounds like a fair trade to me!"

Suddenly, Ashley felt something. She didn't know what it was exactly, pain, or something completely different. But somehow she knew that she had lost this fight.

Just before Ashley would have her last breath, Olivier realized something, and decided to share it with Ashley before she dies: "Oh, and by the way! It's 'Kamen Rider', not 'Carmenizer'!"


	16. Chapter 16

Aline's dead body suddenly started to show some signs of life! She opened her eyes wide, and inhaled very deeply. When Olivier saw her live again, something came over him. It felt like relief, or happiness, but unlike anything he had ever felt before. Aline looked at him in the eyes, for as much as the night allowed either of them to see anything. Not a moment of hesitation came before they finally wrapped their arms around each other, rolled around in the dirt, nearly forgetting all about what had only just happened.

It took them a while, but eventually Aline decided to say something: "What happened?"

Olivier had hoped the question wouldn't come up, but it did. He answered: "That's a long story."

"Tell me anyway!" she replied as she had loosened her grip on him.

"Well..." Olivier started, as he got up and kept his hands on her shoulders, "It seems like I do have some powers of my own."

"Really?" Aline couldn't be either be more surprised or more happy to hear it.

"You might not know it, but you actually gave me a hint as to what it is that I can do!" Olivier continued.

"I did?" Aline didn't understand, "How?"

"When you read the index of that book. One of the things you read was 'Taking lives'."

He translated those two words for her into Dutch, explaining the double meaning to it: "You can take live, in the sense of killing someone. Or you can take it like you take an apple. That's how I figured it!"

"But... How did you found out you can do that?" Aline kept asking.

"Because of an incident back at high school. I was in a fight with some bully, and suddenly he appeared to choke. But I didn't do anything to him, causing him to choke. Or so I thought, until now! I had no idea I could do that, but instinctively I must've used my powers to defend myself."

Aline seemed more concerned about something else: "How is that guy now?"

"He's still alive." Olivier sounded disappointed when he said that, "But nobody believed his side of the story, so he ended up in an institution. And knowing him, he probably never got out. Anyway, once I figured that, whatever happened the last two days started to make more sense!"

"How?" Aline asked.

"When you used your powers to make me invisible, and I found out I was invisible, I was scared! Maybe, I've used my powers at that moment, hoping to stop whatever's causing this. Through that, I must have either drained you of your powers, or I must have created a connection between us. In either case, it made sure that your powers made me stronger this morning, made me imagine you... well you know."

"And that's why I couldn't do anything about it!" Aline started to understand, "Because I wasn't the one doing it!"

"Exactly!" Olivier confirmed, "Once I had that figured out, I ran back to your room, hoping to find some confirmation in the book. But... that's when she..."

Olivier pointed to Ashley, who now lay motionless in the dirt. Though Olivier couldn't help but think that there was something else underneath her as well.

"That's when she killed me?" Aline asked, though she already knew the answer.

Olivier merely nodded. Then he continued: "I... I didn't know what to do either. I didn't know why, but somehow I thought that if I can drain people's lives, I must be able to put live into dead people as well. I had to do some quick thinking. For one I couldn't let her get away with killing you, so I needed something to threaten her with. I even needed to be sure whether Mary Susans was even her real name. All together, even the showdown that took place here was all improvised."

"But..." there was something else Aline couldn't understand, "How did you even think you could win a fight with her? Did you even know how to use your powers?"

Olivier hesitated to answer: "...Not really. I kinda hoped that, like with that bully, a life threatening situation would help me figure it out. And I did! Though instead of draining her life, I drained her of her powers."

"You did?" Aline couldn't believe what she was hearing.

Olivier had let go of her, and stood up. He transformed into the fighting machine to show her, then back into himself. He helped Aline up, then continued to talk: "With her powers, I could easily win a fight with her. That bitch had no idea what's coming to her!"

There was something else that Aline didn't quite understand: "But how could it take you so long to know about your powers, but know how to use hers so fast?"

Olivier hadn't stop to think about that: "I... I don't know! Maybe I took her memory of how to use it too."

Though after stating this, Olivier remembered Ashley's reaction after he took her powers. She tried to change back, but nothing happened, like she somehow still remembered how to transform but just couldn't do it. This idea started to scare Olivier a little. He could easily master her powers, but he didn't know why.

"Are you sure?" Aline asked him, since she noticed he was in deep thoughts.

"I don't know." Olivier replied, and just as fast shrugged it off and continued, "Anyway, whatever happened then, I somehow hoped that I could use my power to take her life and put it into you."

"You hoped you could?" Aline started to look a little frightened.

Olivier didn't have an answer at the ready: "...Yeah, I'm aware that all this wasn't well thought out. Like I said, I had to do some quick thinking. Besides, her life for yours, it seemed only fair to me, considering what she has done to us. Or even planning to do!"

"What do you mean 'planning to do'?" Aline asked.

"She was going through every length to get me to trust her." he explained, "Like she needed my powers so badly! Even though they were really yours, but she didn't know that."

"But what could she possibly need my powers for?" Aline asked.

"Someone that can change reality as we know it?" Olivier replied to her, "People would kill for someone like that! And she did! Twice, for as far as I know!"

"Is that why you have beaten her up so gravely?" Aline wondered.

"What do you mean?" Olivier had no idea what she was talking about. He realized he hasn't been too nice with her, but punching her 'so gravely' means that she was nearly dead before he made the trade.

"What do you think?" Aline answered, "She's bathing in blood!"

Olivier didn't know what she was on about. It was then he saw it too. Ashley was lying in a puddle of blood, right next to the puddle where Aline lay only moments ago. Olivier couldn't remember what he had done to make Ashley look like this. He transformed again, but changed only his hands. With his changed hands, he picked up the body, and looked beneath it. Aline turned her face away, she couldn't bear to see such horror. Olivier for some reason did, or so he thought. Once he lifted Ashley's shoulders, her head motioned as if it was about to fall off. It gave Olivier the idea of what he might feel if it were to happen to him. He tried to tell himself that he has seen such things before in the movies, and that this is not much different. It only narrowly helped, but it helped. He held her up for only a few seconds, but it was enough for him to see that her back had shifted into so many ways, and her head looked like a crushed egg-shell. In other words, she looked exactly like someone who had just fallen out of a window.

"Son of a..." Olivier just realized something.

"What?" Aline asked, still disgusted at the body, or the fact that he even wanted to examine it.

"I..." Olivier was trying to figure it out for himself what happened too, "... your body was damaged earlier, but I... I took those damages away and... put them onto her! I... I had no idea I was doing that?"

"Well I'm glad you did." Aline assured him, "I don't think I'd be walking around if you didn't."

"You don't understand!" Olivier tried to make it clear to her, "I can't control my powers! I wanted to do one thing to you, but ended up doing more! I..."

Never before had Olivier felt as scared as this. Aline could tell that he was terrified of his own powers. She tried to reassure him that there's no problem. She laid her hand on his shoulder, bur as soon as she did, Olivier pulled himself away.

"Don't touch me!" he shouted, though he didn't sound like he didn't want to be touched.

"Look, you saved my life with your powers." Aline tried to use words this time, "There's nothing to be scared of!"

"But what if I must do this again?" Olivier pressed on, "There's no telling what'll happen then!"

In all his confusion, Olivier remembered something else: "And this body... you were dead earlier! People must have seen you! And how you ended up in the hospital... There's no way we can help ourselves out of this!"

Aline hadn't thought about any of that either. There has been a long moment of awkward silence. But Aline had thought of a solution.

"You said you could take powers away from people, and that people would kill just to find me!"

Olivier wasn't sure where she was heading, but answered anyway: "... Yes?"

Aline held out her hand and said: "Take it!"

Olivier was taken aback at that request: "... Wh... What?"

"Take it!" she repeated.

"But... why... why would you...? I mean..." Olivier didn't know the right way to object to this.

"They would kill just to get to me, and who knows what they'll do when they find me! I don't want these powers!" Aline explained to him.

"But... How does that even help us out of... this situation?" Olivier remained skeptic about this.

"Like you took her knowledge to change into that... that thing." Aline answered, "You can take my memory, so that I can say that I don't know what happened either."

Olivier started to think about it. She had an excellent point, but he still had his doubts: "But... why do you want me to have it?"

"After what you've done for me, it's the least I could do for you. You deserve this more than I do!"

That was Aline's opinion, but Olivier hardly even believed that himself. In addition to his doubts, came another thought: "But... I told you I can't control this. Even if I take it away from you, I... I might take something more away!"

"Given the alternative, I'm willing to take that risk!" Aline finally stated, though there was some kind of hesitation in her voice.

Olivier looked at her. Even in the dim lights she was so beautiful. He couldn't bear to think of granting her request, and risking to kill her in the process. There was a sparkle in Aline's eyes that made her decision even more difficult for him to understand. He took her hand, which she was still holding out, but he didn't start to drain her of anything. Instead, the somewhat impulsive decision to convince her otherwise came to his mind, to wrap his arms around her, and kiss her deeply. Aline didn't quite expect Olivier would decide to do that, but was glad none the less that he did, and kissed him back.

**Evolution can change the life of one just as it can change life itself. For that, one must be prepared to face the consequences of such changes. But if the world is not prepared to except such changes, there is no telling what the future will have in store, and evolution will seem like a bad dream of which nobody can wake from.**

**THE END**


End file.
